Ideally I think I'd like something like a bright red zip tie that doesn't leave sharp plastic edges all over my gear. The label doesn't have to say my name per sé, but it does have to mean - "this gear is mine"

i'm sure many of you have completely solved this problem, but I can't seem to get it just right.

I use a regular Dymo labeler, but cover the paper label with clear packing tape. Stays on very well. Also, you can engrave gear, if you have something like a Dremel. I don't worry about too much, but things like DI boxes, cables, mic stands, and so on, I label so they don't get mixed up with the venue's cables, etc.

I attached a photo of a mic I recently sold, that had a label done with the tape.

I make all my own cables, and I use a distinctive piece of heat-shrink tubing at one (or both) ends. "My color" is yellow, and I write my name with black permanent marker. I also mark the length and (where applicable) what kind of special cable wiring it may have. (Like an insert-tap with tip and ring connected together, etc.)

On equipment, I use a contrasting (typically white on black) "paint pen" to clearly put my name on my gear.

I also find it VERY helpful to mark all my wall-wart and line-lump power supplies not only with my name, but also the name of the gear it goes with. It cuts way down on the problem or orphan equipment (or power supplies). Since they are typically black, I use a fine-tip white paint pen for that, also.

...I also find it VERY helpful to mark all my wall-wart and line-lump power supplies not only with my name, but also the name of the gear it goes with. It cuts way down on the problem or orphan equipment (or power supplies). Since they are typically black, I use a fine-tip white paint pen for that, also.

+1
It's a real pain to find a wall wart and not know what it "belongs to".

It should be criminal for a manufacturer to sell hardware with outboard power supplies that are not labeled with the model of the equipment they are intended to power, but they ALL do it anyway.

I use the Brother P-Touch Label Maker with their heavy duty laminated 1/2 or 3/4 inch plastic labels. The only Brother label material I like is the TZe-232 Indoor/Outdoor Laminated version. They seem to hold up well, are abrasion and UV resistant, and don't come off. The non-laminated tapes are not very good for labeling equipment.

Also, if you're labeling cables, go ahead and give each one some unique identifier at each end, like numbering the cables, or giving them a letter, etc. This can be exceptionally useful when trying to sort through a mess of cables on stage (or in the studio.) Find the end attached to your mic, see what number it is, then go over to the snake and make sure it's inserted where it should be.

Nothing like trying to figure out why some mic isn't giving signal, and adding in trying to trace cables 5 minutes before the show is to start! (not every gig allows for a thorough soundcheck, unfortunately.)

+1
It's a real pain to find a wall wart and not know what it "belongs to".

It should be criminal for a manufacturer to sell hardware with outboard power supplies that are not labeled with the model of the equipment they are intended to power, but they ALL do it anyway.

I use the Brother P-Touch Label Maker with their heavy duty laminated 1/2 or 3/4 inch plastic labels. The only Brother label material I like is the TZe-232 Indoor/Outdoor Laminated version. They seem to hold up well, are abrasion and UV resistant, and don't come off. The non-laminated tapes are not very good for labeling equipment.

+1
It's a real pain to find a wall wart and not know what it "belongs to".

It should be criminal for a manufacturer to sell hardware with outboard power supplies that are not labeled with the model of the equipment they are intended to power, but they ALL do it anyway.

I use the Brother P-Touch Label Maker with their heavy duty laminated 1/2 or 3/4 inch plastic labels. The only Brother label material I like is the TZe-232 Indoor/Outdoor Laminated version. They seem to hold up well, are abrasion and UV resistant, and don't come off. The non-laminated tapes are not very good for labeling equipment.

Amen, brother.
I run a design and install firm and cable organization is paramount.
I've had facilities pay me thousands just to tone out, trace, and test their patch bays and cable linkages. The front of the rack is sooooo nice, and then you get into the back, and..... Oh dear god no.
Unlabeled wall warts drive me into a frenzy.
I seem to spend thousands annually on Velcro wrap, zip ties, Rhino label tape, and sharpie pens.
Service calls on installs with organized cabling runs are a breeze.

The worst for me are power supplies that are made by some small company, unrelated to the piece of gear. Sometimes, there is almost no way to figure out which is which, once they are disconnected. You have to get in there and find the voltages, amperage, etc of the gear, then find the power supply that corresponds. What a pain.

I'm a one man operation, so I label my gear using a sticker with my company name, website and phone number.

Cables are marked with a white tape stripe on the male end, so that it won't show on the mic side of things in case I want a discrete dark mic look. Permanently mounted cables, for instance in a rack, are labeled with 1, 2, 3 and so fourth. Rack panels are labeled with Dymo Equipment.

This is some great advice. I'm so Po'd at myself for not labeling my wall warts, every one of them. Thank God, I've labeled some of them, but it can get so tricky, especially when the "wart" doesn't include the name of the piece of equipment it's supposed to go with. Shame on me, and hope I don't burn up any equipment, while trying to figure out which ones are which. One little tip I know about is, for sure, check to see if it's "hot center", or not. I put colored tape on my cords that I know what length each color signifies, but I have a really nice, seemingly reliable label maker by Brady, that I plan on labeling all my equipment, maybe even the length of my cords with that, instead. I still use that "good" white tape you buy for recording consoles that comes off without leaving stick um, but for my preamp interfaces, I'm struggling where and how to put some kind of labels for live recording. Most of the surface on my 18i20, for instance is used up, but I'll figure something out, even if it's using a separate tablet or something. Marc

Anymore it seems like very few manufacturers of audio gear put their names on the wall warts needed to power their stuff. I guess they all come from the same factories in China and are pretty generic, but there are so many different connectors, DC voltages etc avail that it is really vital to label the wart with what it is supposed to be powering as soon as you get it. I've also started researching and buying backups for these since most are not what I'd call high-quality electronics but they sure are show stoppers if they quit working or get misplaced. Re labelling--if you work in situations where your stuff is going to get mixed up with that of others you have to do this in a consistent easily readable fashion, otherwise your gear is going to wander. Having "a color" that you use on all your stuff is a great idea.

hi, i avoid my address on any gear .. name phone number and email .. too many people out there that might think about coming to your place while you are not there !!! just a little Paranoid Mandroid here !!!

hi, i avoid my address on any gear .. name phone number and email .. too many people out there that might think about coming to your place while you are not there !!! just a little Paranoid Mandroid here !!!

So just put your name, phone number and email on the label.

We accidentally left a piece of equipment at a church after a recording session. They called us the next day to tell us about it. If I had not had my phone number on the tag or did not have a tag on the equipment I doubt they would have made the effort to call.

Another time the custodian "collected" our mic cables and mic stands after a concert. He "thought" they were the churches. They all had our tags on them. Not sure exactly what was going on but when confronted with our tags he said "oops my bad" and gave them back.

More than once our tagging everything has proved to be essential to us getting our equipment back.

We accidentally left a piece of equipment at a church after a recording session. They called us the next day to tell us about it. If I had not had my phone number on the tag or did not have a tag on the equipment I doubt they would have made the effort to call.

Another time the custodian "collected" our mic cables and mic stands after a concert. He "thought" they were the churches. They all had our tags on them. Not sure exactly what was going on but when confronted with our tags he said "oops my bad" and gave them back.

More than once our tagging everything has proved to be essential to us getting our equipment back.

FWIW

about 20+ years ago, i was on an ENG shoot, and there on the sidewalk was a FULL ENG Audio rig .. FP-32 and a couple wireless ... there was a business card in the Kit .. i called the guy and he was gushing with thx that i was honest .. if he did not have that phone number i would have never figured out it was his ..

and fast forward those 20+ years and i see this guy on a show i am working as the tech producer and i walked up and said .. hey Brian, i was the guy that found your audio gear on the sidewalk .. he still remembered and we had a quick chat and a laugh ..

and i have also had my fully labelled Cables disappear more than once .. with my name and phone number under shrink wrap .. and then a couple years later i am on a job and low and behold there are my cables .. still labelled .. at the end of the show i am wrapping MY Cables and had a guy come up and say, hey those are our cables ... and i pointed to the labels on MY cables that a brought for this job and the ones that i found .. he could say nothing but .. take your cables .. and we had a few words about how HE WAS the one originally that just took my cables ..

good times ...

you have some great solutions here from others .. !!!!

and if anyone sees my 100 foot Edison Cables please let me know .. they have been missing in action for 25 years .. !!!!

On video shoots with a lighting truck I very often have to pay the truck a visit at wrap and retrieve my furniture pads (not like theirs since the are black/white, and have SOUND written on them in big letters), A-clamps (with my color and a SOUND tag on each) and sometimes more expensive items like Cardellini clamps etc, also profusely labelled. The labelling doesn't seem to matter. In the grip-storm at wrap the griptricians assume all that stuff is theirs and grab it. On most lighting trucks a look at their A-clamp strings will reveal the names of many people and companies other than the one at hand....

For the same price ($100) as those little plastic domestic P-touch and Dymo gadgets, I got a professional Brady BMP21-PLUS. Best label maker I ever owned. Wide variety of different label types, colors, widths, etc. Even labels made for wrapping around cables with clear covering over the printed part. Next best thing to heat-shrink wrapping. Especially for cables where you don't want to (or can't) take a connector off the end to slip on a heat-shrink tubing. Highly recommended.

Brady sell a really good label material that is actually nylon fabric with a great adhesive. Fantastic labels especially for things that are flexible.

I also just took delivery on a 500 ft roll of shielded pair mic cable in bright yellow. While I will continue to use my dozens of black cables for on-stage or on-camera situations, I intend to make all my extensions, interconnects, jumpers, adapters, etc. from this yellow cable. Not only more visible on the floor (to reduce tripping), but also clearly distinctive during strike when returning everyone's gear to its owner.